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SanDisk's 32GB class 10 SDHC card competes for world's fastest

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 25th 2009 at 4:01AM

When it comes to claims of being the world's first or fastest, there's a big difference between announcing product and actually delivering it for retail. So let's be clear, SanDisk might be announcing the world's fastest 32GB SDHC card today, but it won't be shipping until August. It's not even the first 32GB class 10 SDHC card announced since Panasonic did its unveiling more than a month ago -- and this is where SanDisk's speed claims get confusing. That "class 10" logo is supposed to be a standard means of identify the card's speed as rated by the SD Association. Yet SanDisk claims a max read/write speed of 30MBps whereas Panasonic claims a max of just 22MBps. Guess we'll have to see head-to-head benchmarks to know the truth. Regardless, it is fast and that makes it suitable for capturing 160 minutes of full HD (1920x1080 pixels) video recorded at 24Mbps.

Engadget's recession antidote: win a 4GB SanDisk microSDHC card and reader!

by Laura June, posted Jun 17th 2009 at 12:00PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a 4GB SanDisk microSDHC on offer, with adapter and reader included! Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!

Special thanks to SanDisk for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) SanDisk 4GB microSDHC card with adapter and MicroMate card reader.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Wednesday, June 17th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

SanDisk CEO concedes: "You can't out-iPod the iPod"

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 4th 2009 at 8:43AM

It's a truth that many open-minded observers have known for awhile now: Apple rules the roost in the portable media player market, and everyone else is just trying to keep up. Sorry, but it's true. So true, in fact, that SanDisk's own CEO has finally come forward to admit it, recently stating in a Fortune interview that "you can't out-iPod the iPod." And believe us, such a statement probably wasn't easy for Mr. Eli Harari to make. Remember, this is the same fellow that spent boatloads of dough on an "iDon't" anti-iPod campaign back in 2006. 'Course, SanDisk is still a (very distant) second place in the sector, and its flash memory is used in all manners of PMP devices. Still, it's a huge relief to finally hear the mastermind behind slotMusic confess that he doesn't actually believe such gimmicks will put it on a fast track to first place. Then again, crazier things have happened.

[Image courtesy of dnorton]

SanDisk finally ships pSSD drives for netbook sector

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 4:59PM

While SanDisk didn't do itself any favors this morning with its netbook-centric SDHC card, at least it's making up for it somewhat with a legitimate launch here. The outfit's pSSD line, which was originally announced exactly this day a year ago, has just started to ship. The pSSD P2 and S2 both employ a new technology dubbed nCache, which supposedly improves netbook performance by supporting some fresh level of burst performance. In fact, SanDisk claims that these drives offer a non-volatile cache of up to 320MB, though it doesn't bother sharing standard read / write rates. Anywho, the drop-in modules are available now in 8/16/32/64GB sizes, and while exact prices aren't disclosed, we're told that they're "attractively priced."

SanDisk designs "netbook-specific" SDHC card, grossly overcharges for it

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 10:07AM

SanDisk, the company famous for making device-specific SD cards that are actually just regular SD cards with stupidly high prices tags, is back again -- and this time, things are just too offensive to laugh off. Designed to provide "extra storage" to netbooks with a multicard reader, these Netbook SDHC cards are priced at $39.99 for 8GB and $79.99 for 16GB. Isn't this kind of stuff criminal in some countries?

Engadget's recession antidote: win one of ten SanDisk 4GB Ultra II SDHC cards!

by Laura June, posted May 7th 2009 at 12:11PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got ten (yes, ten!) 4GB Sandisk Ultra II SDHC cards to give away. These could make perfect last minute Mother's Day gifts, couldn't they? Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Big thanks to SanDisk for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. Ten winners will be randomly chosen. Each winner will win one (1) SanDisk 4GB Ultra II SDHC.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Thursday, May, 7th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

Rusted Steampunk USB Drive offers 4GB of storage, free tetanus infection

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 28th 2009 at 9:51AM

Steampunk mods are becoming rather more prevalent these days as tech-addled creative types reject modern sensibilities and revert to a non-existent, whimsical past. The latest such escape is called "Rusted Steampunk USB Drive - no.2," a follow-up to an earlier, slightly less rusty object d'USB. It appears to be built around a 4GB SanDisk Cruzer drive, augmented with weathered, laser-cut hunks of metal. The curvy flourish on the front says "You probably shouldn't put this in your pocket," while the dueling swordfish on the back say "I survived a trip to Rapture and all I got was this corroded chunk of storage." Yours for $40.

[Via Geeky Gadgets]

Continue reading Rusted Steampunk USB Drive offers 4GB of storage, free tetanus infection

Sprint looking to wholesale bandwidth to connected gadget makers

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 24th 2009 at 4:57PM

So, what's a flagging cellular operator to do once it has succumbed to the grim realization that no one wants to sign up for your service and you've already collected the dough from selling off nearly all of your towers? Go wholesale, of course! Unbeknownst to most, all of the Kindle downloads on Amazon's white-hot e-reader go through Sprint's network, and given just how successful that little venture has been, the carrier is hoping to expand its revenues from wholesaling bandwidth (which currently sits at just 3 percent of its total) by inking similar deals with connected gadget makers. From internet-connected vehicles to GPS systems to cameras, the options are darn near limitless, and with so much free capacity on Sprint's network, it might as well find companies to use it. 'Course, it's not like Sprint's the only one out there trying to carve these kinds of deals into stone, but it's definitely the one that needs to do it most immediately.

SanDisk slotRadio player launching to much fanfare on March 31st

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 20th 2009 at 10:11AM

Oh, wait -- we were just kidding about the whole "to much fanfare" bit. SanDisk's slotRadio player, which we're still struggling to understand, is all set to ship on March 31st after debuting alongside a gazillion other gadgets at CES. For those who've forced themselves to forget, this microSD music player can handle your own jams on your own microSD card, or alternatively, can accept pre-loaded Billboard hits cards which house over 1,000 songs that are nicely categorized by genre. It'll be available from SanDisk's own website on March 31st for $99 (which includes a card with over a thousand songs), and it should be ready to ruin Father's Day when it slips into Radio Shack locations shortly thereafter.

Gallery: SanDisk slotRadio player launching to much fanfare on March 31st

SanDisk working on "Sansa Tap" trademark

by Nilay Patel, posted Mar 4th 2009 at 7:07AM

It could come to nothing, but the enterprising crew at DAPReview just dug up a SanDisk trademark filing for a player called the "Sansa Tap." The mark hasn't been granted yet, but it's been a while since we've seen a new Sansa -- and no, the thoroughly ridiculous SlotMusic Player doesn't count. We'll see how it goes -- we'd love SanDisk to blow our minds with some crazy MusicGremlin-powered touchscreen player, but something tells us the company might be a little distracted with other problems right now.

[Via DAPReview]

SanDisk ships first ever multicard readers with style

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 25th 2009 at 4:56PM

Okay, so maybe you've seen a multicard reader or two in your day that wasn't unsightly to the nth degree, but it's a rarity, let us tell you. Furthermore, SanDisk's latest bunch are amongst the first we've seen that we'd actually feel somewhat proud to have sitting on our desks, and considering that there's only so much added functionality you can give these things, aiming for high fashion was probably a good move. The new line of ImageMate readers are currently shipping out to retailers in North America, with the All-In-One reader listing at $29.99 and the Multi-Card reader selling for $10 less.

Gallery: SanDisk ships first ever multicard readers with style

Engadget's recession antidote: win a 16GB Sandisk microSDHC!

by Laura June, posted Feb 11th 2009 at 12:00PM

The bad news just keeps piling up over in world economy land, including the recent news that Sega and Nokia are axing about 500 jobs each, while NVIDIA posted a dreadful fourth-quarter with a $147.7 million dollar-loss. Well, we here at Engadget are committed to trying to counter-attack a little bit of that malaise by handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a 16GB Sandisk microSDHC to offer up. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to Sandisk for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one Sandisk 16GB microSDHC. Approximate value is $99.99.
Entries can be submitted until Wednesday, February 11th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

SanDisk, Toshiba hype up X3 and X4 flash tech

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Feb 11th 2009 at 12:36AM

We've been following the perambulations of SanDisk and Toshiba's joint efforts for quite some time now -- from their work with "3D" memory technology to their renegotiation after the Samsung buyout debacle -- and all that love resulted in two announcements today: first, the X4 tech that SanDisk acquired when it purchased Msystems in 2006 will be used, alongside the companies' 43nm manufacturing process, to develop 64GB Compact Flash cards as early as the first half of this year. Second, it looks like 32nm X3 MLC NAND is a go, meaning we should see some seriously jacked SDHC and microSD cards in the future. Yes, but will they ever learn to make this exciting?

[Via Electronista]

Read - X4 flash
Read - X3 flash

LG and SanDisk team up for memory card-based content protection scheme

by Donald Melanson, posted Jan 14th 2009 at 4:15PM

It's not quite slotMusic, but it looks like SanDisk is intent on offering yet another option for memory card-bound content, and this time its enlisted the help of LG to make it happen. This setup is intended to let cellphone carriers offer content that would only be able to be used on "approved handsets" on their network, which is apparently made possible by allowing IP connectivity to the memory card in the phone, which in turn serves as a network node that is able to be remotely managed using the industry standard OMA Smart Card Web Server. That bit of magic has apparently already been demonstrated on an LG KC910 Renoir phone, but it doesn't look like there's any carriers that have signed on just yet, or at least any that are ready to announce it.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Sharp does the unthinkable, intros slotMusic-friendly sound systems

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 12th 2009 at 12:33PM

Whoa, Sharp -- wait just a minute. Did you really just introduce a pair of music systems that get down with slotMusic players? Though it's practically impossible for us to believe that such an occurrence has just, um, occurred, the 160-watt XL-DH258NH and 64-watt XL-DH228NH micro-audio systems actually do include a USB port for syncing up with SanDisk slotMusic players (along with any other USB-enabled PMP, we presume). Of course, Sharp did hedge its bets by including an iPod dock along with a universal auxiliary input, so we suppose we can't harsh on 'em too much. Both units arrive in any color you like so long as it's glossy black, and there's even an AM / FM radio, six-band equalizer and alarm clock tossed in for good measure. Catch the XL-DH258NH this June for $199.99 or the XL-DH228NH in July for $179.99.

[Via iTechNews]